The raw materials one uses in the process of building something can lead to inspiration. Take a woodworker for example. He or she might use inexpensive oriented strand boards to build a house – and draw no inspiration from it – but use spalted maple when setting out to build a desk, and then decide to use the materials to lathe a bowl. That’s how inspiration happens.

The creative industry, according to Vinay Venkatraman, has always embraced new materials, new technologies, as inspiration for innovation. Because many practitioners hone their skills by exploring new territories, it pays to evolve, push out the edges and maintain a curiosity about life that is, as Leo Burnett opined, “the secret of great creative people.”

Vinay is the founder and CEO of a Denmark-based, design-driven innovation consultancy called Leapcraft. He helps shape strategy and content for many initiatives and takes a cross-disciplinary approach to design, having trained as a product and interaction designer in both India and Italy.

In his talk on “Data as the New Creative Raw Material,” Vinay will discuss how both society and business are now overwhelmed with huge amounts of data, and being able to make sense of that data – and use it meaningfully – is only one problem. The other is the ability to use this massive amount of data as the raw material for creating the next amazing thing.

While we don’t know if he’ll bring enough gum to share with everyone, he will share examples of the fusion of algorithms, networks of sensors, and apps that enable the innovative use of data that will matter to every organization on our planet.

That’s a bold statement, but a big truth.

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WebVisions Barcelona is June 19-21, 2014 at Elisava School of Design and the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona. Register today while tickets are still available.